Dan-cat wrote:Iranu wrote:Dan-cat wrote:D4P wrote:The concept of a "Triple Crown" (or a "grand slam") is a very familiar one in other individual (as opposed to team) sports, as sports like golf and tennis have long kept track of the number of "majors" a player has won over their career.
I don't see any reason to resist using this concept in snooker, unless a person is a Ronnie-hater who doesn't like the fact that Ronnie's name is at the top of the Triple Crown list ahead of Stephen Hendry...
D4P dropping science.
There is no science in D4P’s post.
It's hip hop vernacular.
Metaphorically there’s no science, I meant! I don’t know enough about golf to compare but in tennis (sorry SF) the grand slams have been considered the outstanding tournaments for a century, with the exception of the Australian Open which was the black sheep and not always entered by top players until the last few decades. Not to mention that currently they have a distinct format that’s the same between the four of them give or take the odd final set tie break rule (I’m not sure if other tournaments have always been shorter formats).
It’s completely different to the Triple Crown which didn’t even exist until the BBC dropped the Grand Prix. Prior to that they referred to the four tournaments (funnily enough) as the Grand Slam of snooker and the Triple Crown didn’t exist. It's completely artificial and smacks of BBC’s arrogance when it comes to snooker, and it’s amazing the extent to which they’ve hoodwinked fans into believing it’s the be-all and end-all of a player’s greatness.
It’s a factor, yes, as they’re the longest running tournaments and are highly prized by players. But the UK is fast being eclipsed by tournaments with better formats, better coverage and better prize money. Give it a decade and unless something changes with the UK, the Tour Championship, China Open and possibly others will move ahead of it in the most prestigious tournaments list. All it has going for it is its history. Its history is outstanding but can only count for so much (just look at the Welsh Open!)
Is Selby a better player than MJW because he has one more Masters title? Is he buck.
And I’m a Ronnie fan, so the last part of D4P’s post isn’t correct either.
